5th Wheels and chase vehicles

[rhagfo]

Just wondering not Judging. Recently I have noticed some 5ers with chase vehicles. Theses are long distance from states away, TV can be a DRW to SRW short bed. We full time and we had a second vehicle for the first year and short distances. We dropped the second vehicle, and DW loves traveling together as do I. Just wondering what some of the thoughts are for having a SUV as a chase.

[sourdough]

I've noticed it as well. Don't understand the rationale and it's not really my place to determine why but.....

Many of those with 2 vehicles come to a park with a slot rented that will hold their RV and TV. Then they have a 2nd vehicle that has nowhere to park other than on "the grass" which is generally prohibited, in the street/drive - generally prohibited or snugging right up to our truck or trailer - a no no as well. In those situations (last one) it IS my place to determine what's going on. How does that go....a malfunction on your end doesn't make it an emergency on mine (not referencing anyone in particular).....nor does it mean I should make a bunch of concessions/accommodations for those that don't do their due diligence or are just inconsiderate. JMO

[RogerThat99]

My Brother In Law used to work on a fiber optics crew for for AT&T. They worked in 13 states, and traveled with a 5th wheel. If they were going to be somewhere for a while they would bring a second car.

I have also seen more people who work as Travelers in healthcare (temp contract employees...usually a 3-6 month contract), decide to bring an RV to live in, instead of staying in a hotel. More and more, these are couples who may work at different hospitals when they get to their location, and would need 2 cars to to get to work.

[flybouy]

I'm with Danny, don't know why, don't particularly care why, as long as they don't encroach on the space that I'm paying for.

[Ken / Claudia]

Just is my observation. I seen them and right away take caution. This goes for all travelers with a chase vehicle not just 5ers. Many (NOT ALL) are tail gators.
When the led vehicle switches lanes or makes a turn watch out! Many (NOT ALL) chase vehicle drivers repeat the movement like Jet fighters flying formation. Many do not look or maybe care about how close the other traffic is when they follow the leader.
I have been cut off in a marked vehicle police more than once. After citing a few years ago, I realized how easy it is to spot them.
With that said the majority are U-Haul type trucks being driven by the husband and wife following in the family vehicle.
Seen this event play out 2 weeks ago coming home from Costco. I was in left lane and as soon as I seen the U haul truck ahead in the right lane signal lane changes to the left, I slowed down from the posted 80 mph and still needed to brake when the chase vehicle moved over, right into my path. I do not get it nowadays they all have cell phones, maybe radios to talk to each other. No need to tail gate and make bad lanes changes.

[flybouy]

Originally Posted by Ken / Claudia

Just is my observation. I seen them and right away take caution. This goes for all travelers with a chase vehicle not just 5ers. Many (NOT ALL) are tail gators.
When the led vehicle switches lanes or makes a turn watch out! Many (NOT ALL) chase vehicle drivers repeat the movement like Jet fighters flying formation. Many do not look or maybe care about how close the other traffic is when they follow the leader.
I have been cut off in a marked vehicle police more than once. After citing a few years ago, I realized how easy it is to spot them.
With that said the majority are U-Haul type trucks being driven by the husband and wife following in the family vehicle.
Seen this event play out 2 weeks ago coming home from Costco. I was in left lane and as soon as I seen the U haul truck ahead in the right lane signal lane changes to the left, I slowed down from the posted 80 mph and still needed to brake when the chase vehicle moved over, right into my path. I do not get it nowadays they all have cell phones, maybe radios to talk to each other. No need to tail gate and make bad lanes changes.

DW and I comment on this often. We call it the "Fall of the edge of the earth driver". Same motions at many exits (esp. the idiotic left lane exits popular in the NE) where the driver panics, acts like if they miss their exit they will reach the end of the earth (apparently it's still flat in their minds) and they will fall off. Defensive driving has never been more important than it is these days. IMHO.

[Ken / Claudia]

Marshall it's not just your opinion.
Monday we took the trailer on a 105 mile each direction trip to a state park. It was nearly all a 2 lane road, highway 95 in ID. There are many slow moving pull out lanes on the grades. At one point I was behind another pickup pulling a travel trailer. We had traffic behind me piling up and I started over into the pullout lane. Guy in front was not, so my vision ahead was some what blocked. I was about half way over and seen a car was stopped in the pullout/ traffic lane, the woman was on the cell phone. I almost smashed into that car. Without standing on the brakes, I steered back into the main traffic lane. All along there was a nice full paved shoulder with freshly painted lines. I do not know why she did that, guessing I told my wife she maybe thought she was on the shoulder. If I was a 18 wheeler, or I had panicked and braked hard she may have been killed.

[flybouy]

Originally Posted by Ken / Claudia

Marshall it's not just your opinion.
Monday we took the trailer on a 105 mile each direction trip to a state park. It was nearly all a 2 lane road, highway 95 in ID. There are many slow moving pull out lanes on the grades. At one point I was behind another pickup pulling a travel trailer. We had traffic behind me piling up and I started over into the pullout lane. Guy in front was not, so my vision ahead was some what blocked. I was about half way over and seen a car was stopped in the pullout/ traffic lane, the woman was on the cell phone. I almost smashed into that car. Without standing on the brakes, I steered back into the main traffic lane. All along there was a nice full paved shoulder with freshly painted lines. I do not know why she did that, guessing I told my wife she maybe thought she was on the shoulder. If I was a 18 wheeler, or I had panicked and braked hard she may have been killed.

Seems like the lunacy is pervasive. Today I hitched up to take the trailer to a shop for a new awning. First time in many decades of boating and camping and until a few weeks ago I never lost lost any canvas or awning. Guess I was overdue.

Anyway, setting at a stop light and needed to make a right turn. The turn lane was very short (barely long enough for my 50' rig. Do I'm setting half in the thru lane and 1/2 in the turn lane. Lights on, turn signal on. An idiot in an old Honda comes barreling up behind, cuits to the right and jumps the curb. That stopped him quicker than a powerboat on a sandbar. His right front wheel folded under like a cheap lawn chair.

The driver exited the car and appeared to be ok. The light turned green and there was no one coming from the right so I was able to swing wide enough to circumnavigate the freshly made "parts car". After the initial shock, the DW said "Apparently the end of the earth is just ahead".

I tell everyone that one of the best investments you can make for any vehicle is a dash cam. I gave them to both of our daughters the day they passed their driver's test and we bought then cars.

[wiredgeorge]

When we go to a local campground, the missus often lets me drag the fiver and then shows up a couple hours after I get there and set up with her Crown Vic and the camping dogs. We then use the Crown Vic for local trips to restaurants, etc. When we go on longer trips, the crew piles into my clunker and we all enjoy the ride together (dogs mostly curl up on my wife and sleep).

[vampress_me]

One was me, (or would that be us)? I will confess. We did this in August. First time doing it. Our reason? Taking DD to college in WY. We took the camper to stay in on the way and while there for a few days. She took her car to college, so her and dad traded off driving the car following me while I drove the truck and camper.

BTW - no one warned me how hard it was going to be to leave your child, albeit technically an adult, in another state…

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by vampress_me

One was me, (or would that be us)? I will confess. We did this in August. First time doing it. Our reason? Taking DD to college in WY. We took the camper to stay in on the way and while there for a few days. She took her car to college, so her and dad traded off driving the car following me while I drove the truck and camper.

BTW - no one warned me how hard it was going to be to leave your child, albeit technically an adult, in another state…

It will get better Lynette. As the "mother hen" in the family I'm sort of the one that kinda "holds on" and worries about minutiae. Keep that phone handy - pics help too. Good luck.

[notanlines]

When we travelled with two vehicles, DW never felt the need to follow behind me. She’s well capable of finding her own way and trying to stay together over 300 or more miles is simply more stressful. We never felt the need to stay close ‘just in case.’

[chuckster57]

I drove the chase car in my previous career, it’s just as hard to avoid the oblivious people even with lights/sirens on.

[rhagfo]

Originally Posted by vampress_me

One was me, (or would that be us)? I will confess. We did this in August. First time doing it. Our reason? Taking DD to college in WY. We took the camper to stay in on the way and while there for a few days. She took her car to college, so her and dad traded off driving the car following me while I drove the truck and camper.

BTW - no one warned me how hard it was going to be to leave your child, albeit technically an adult, in another state…

DW & DD did a cross country trip to school in Virginia, one week after we dropped her off, they had heavy rain and flooding. She came through unscathed, but watching news we saw places we shopped and ate at underwater.

[jasin1]

In my line of work you oftentimes have more then one truck heading to a job together. Before cell phones and gps units some guys would get split up and lost along the way…guys would run red lights just to keep up…like a kid following their parents at the mall.

After gps just give everyone the address and forget about it…it definitely made things easier ( some people cannot read/comprehend map books )

On another note I’d get so frustrated at the homeowners that wanted to give me directions to the job

“Sir there is three smith avenues in your zip code…are you the one off of Greenspring?”……..simple question…need simple answer…because I am looking at the map……their response.. “where ya coming from?” ( want to give me 27 turn directions from my house)…

[gearhead]

Dang I would hate to take a vacation and report that all I saw was Montana.....written on the back of the 5th wheel.

[travelin texans]

Just did this about a month ago while helping move our son!
Two UHaul trucks towing trailers, son set his guidance using the Waze app, we set ours using Google maps, we got separated a out 1/2 way into the trip for a whole day, we stayed on the same highway for the day while he took about 4 different roads. We wasted about an hour trying figure which way he went, finally followed our GPS only to catch up to him at the same intersection about 6 hours later. So we wasted an hour & still got to the same spot at the same time.
Moral of the story, don't use the Waze app!

[BookPaul74]

Originally Posted by jasin1

In my line of work you oftentimes have more then one truck heading to a job together. Before cell phones and gps units some guys would get split up and lost along the way…guys would run red lights just to keep up…like a kid following their parents at the mall.

After gps just give everyone the address and forget about it…it definitely made things easier ( some people cannot read/comprehend map books )

On another note I’d get so frustrated at the homeowners that wanted to give me directions to the job

“Sir there is three smith avenues in your zip code…are you the one off of Greenspring?”……..simple question…need simple answer…because I am looking at the map……their response.. “where ya coming from?” ( want to give me 27 turn directions from my house)…

When I first started trucking (2004) the company I drove for had Qualcomm’s but no GPS yet. They would have the drivers submit directions. Many was like your mom was telling you.

I remember I had a delivery to a small town in Georgia and it had one main highway coming into town. It was turn right at the Burger King. I did and it dead ended at a utility company yard, no other roads. Walked in and asked if I could come in and spin around and where was this place. They explained that it must have been old directions because they now have TWO Burger Kings. 🙄

[TNordine]

We have done this while hiking the AZ trail. Needed a second vehicle to park one at each end of a trail section. PIA but it worked for us. Otherwise we would have had to hike out and back(double the milage) and 800 miles one way on foot was plenty

[Camp CA]

Originally Posted by rhagfo

..........Just wondering what some of the thoughts are for having a SUV as a chase.

We do not have one since my wife and I drive our DRW tow vehicle. She does not drive it. I can see if one spouse is not comfortable driving a long bed DRW Crew Cab then a small chase vehicle OR rental car for that spouse makes sense if they want to have an independent means of transportation and public transporation is not available.